826 Valencia is a non-profit organization in the

Mission District The Mission District (Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission (Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, California, United States, dedicated to helping children and young adults develop writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. It was the basis for the

826 National 826 National is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students, ages 6–18, improve their expository and creative writing skills at eight locations across the United States. The chapters include 826 Valencia in San Francisco, 826NYC ...

organization, which has centers on the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

with the same goal.

Overview

Named for its street address, 826 Valencia was founded in 2002 by author

Dave Eggers Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He wrote the 2000 best-selling memoir ''A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius''. Eggers is also the founder of ''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', a lite ...

and veteran teacher Nínive Calegari, who both have ties to the literary and educational community. 826 consists of three centers, each encompassing a writing lab, a street-front student-friendly store that partially funds the programs, and two satellite classrooms in nearby middle schools. The organization is named after the street address of the first center. Over 1,400 volunteers—including published authors, magazine founders, SAT-course instructors, and documentary filmmakers—have donated their time to work with thousands of students. These volunteers allow 826 Valencia to offer all of its services for free. 826 Valencia opened a second location in the Tenderloin in 2016 and another in the Mission Bay neighborhood in 2019.

Programming

826 Valencia's programming includes-in-schools programs, workshops, field trips, after school tutoring and student publishing.

Pirate supply store

826 Valencia runs San Francisco's "only independent pirate supply store". The store is the front entrance of the tutoring center and has the look and feel of an authentic

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

shop. It sells pirate clothing, eyepatches,

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself wit ...

es, spyglasses, pirate dice, skull flags, and secret treasures. It features handmade signs, scattered around the store, offering tongue-in-cheek wisdom, such as "Uses for Lard" (#5: "Lard Fights") and "Guidelines for New Shipmates" (#4: "No forgetting to swab"). Unsuspecting visitors are sometimes treated to surprise "moppings." Shoppers can also find back issues of ''McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', books published by

McSweeney's McSweeney's Publishing is an American non-profit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. Initially publishing the literary journal'' Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', the company has moved to ...

, and literary compilations written by 826 Valencia students. The books of student writing published by 826 Valencia include forewords, illustrations and interviews from public figures such as Former San Francisco mayor

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California f ...

and actor

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

. The Pirate Supply Store was originally created through necessity. After being turned down for regular use of church basements and school facilities, the founders discovered an empty store on Valencia Street. City ordinances required businesses in that area of the city to be either retail or catering, so the Pirate Supply Store was opened in 2002 as the "legitimate" business front for the writing center. It also helps fund the tutoring program.

Mural

Dave Eggers commissioned cartoonist

Chris Ware Franklin Christenson "Chris" Ware (born December 28, 1967) is an American cartoonist known for his '' Acme Novelty Library'' series (begun 1994) and the graphic novels ''Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth'' (2000), ''Building Stories'' (201 ...

to design the mural for the facade of 826 Valencia's building. The mural depicts "the parallel development of humans and their efforts at and motivations for communication, spoken and written." The 3.9m x 6m mural was applied by artisans to Ware's specifications. Describing the work, Ware said "I didn’t want it to make anyone 'feel good', especially in that typically muralistic 'hands across the water' sort of way,"..."I especially wanted it to be something that people living in the neighbourhood could look at day after day and hopefully not tire of too quickly. I really hoped whomever might happen to come across it would find something that showed a respect for their intelligence, and didn’t force-feed them any 'message'."

Influence

826 Valencia has inspired a number of other projects across the US, known as 'chapters'. In late 2004, just before the founding of four new chapters,

was launched as an umbrella organization that provides logistical support to its chapters. There are now nine chapters that make up 826 National: 826 Valencia, 826NYC in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

826LA 826LA is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6–18 with their creative and expository writing skills and helping teachers inspire their students to write. Programs are structured around the beliefs th ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

826CHI 826 National is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students, ages 6–18, improve their expository and creative writing skills at eight locations across the United States. The chapters include 826 Valencia in San Francisco, 826NYC ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

826michigan 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

(serving Ann Arbor,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, and Ypsilanti),

826 Boston 826 National is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students, ages 6–18, improve their expository and creative writing skills at eight locations across the United States. The chapters include 826 Valencia in San Francisco, 826NYC ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, 826DC in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, 826 New Orleans, and most recently, 826 MSP in Minneapolis. 826 Valencia has also inspired similar projects in several countries: United States * 826NYC, New York - Opened 2004 * 826LA, Los Angeles - Opened 2005 * The Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas (formerly 826 Seattle), Seattle - Opened 2005 * 826 Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan - Opened 2005 * 826CHI, Chicago - Opened 2005 * 826 Boston, Boston - Opened 2007 * 826DC, Washington, D.C. - Opened 2010 * Desert Island Supply Co., Birmingham, AL - Opened 2012 * 826 New Orleans, New Orleans - Opened 2018 * 826 MSP, Minneapolis - Opened 2009, inducted into the 826 network in 2019 Canada * Story Planet, Toronto - Opened 2011 Italy * La Grande Fabbrica delle Parole, Milano (MI) - Opened 2009 * Porto delle Storie, Campi Bisenzio (FI) - Opened 2014 * Fronte del Borgo, Torino (TO) - Opened 2016 United Kingdom * The Ministry of Stories, London - Opened 2010 * Grimm & Co, Rotherham, Yorkshire Australia * The Sydney Story Factory – founded in 2011 * 100 Story Building, Melbourne - Opened 2012 Sweden * Berättarministeret (Ministry of Tales) - founded in 2011 with several locations in the Stockholm area, and since 2017 one location in Gothenburg Ireland * Fighting Words, Dublin - Opened 2009 Austria * W*ORT, Lustenau - Opened 2014 France * abo_des_Histoires,_Paris_-_Opened_2011 Netherlands *_Noordje,_Amsterdam Other In_April_2010,_as_an_extension_of_the_826_Valencia_scholarship_program,_Eggers_launched_ScholarMatch,_a_nonprofit_organization_that_connects_donors_with_students_to_make_college_more_affordable.

_References

__External_links_

826_Valencia

Pirate_Store_main_page

Chris_Ware's_mural_for_826_Valencia's_facade

826_Valencia's_blog
{{Dave_Eggers.html" ;"title="ScholarMatch.html" ;"title="abo des Histoires, Paris - Opened 2011 Netherlands * Noordje, Amsterdam Other In April 2010, as an extension of the 826 Valencia scholarship program, Eggers launched ScholarMatch">abo des Histoires, Paris - Opened 2011 Netherlands * Noordje, Amsterdam Other In April 2010, as an extension of the 826 Valencia scholarship program, Eggers launched ScholarMatch, a nonprofit organization that connects donors with students to make college more affordable.

References

External links

826 Valencia

Pirate Store main page

Chris Ware's mural for 826 Valencia's facade

826 Valencia's blog
{{Dave Eggers">state=expanded 826 National Landmarks in San Francisco Mission District, San Francisco San Francisco Bay Area literature Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco 2002 establishments in California